Fatigue is a common side effect of beta blockers. If your rate is consistently 80-85 without any beta blockers, it's probably safe for you to stop taking the metoprolol, but again always check with your doctor first.

Many Beta-blockers do the same thing to me. Perhaps a different one may help? Atenolol @ 25 mg a day had very few side effects for me.

Thank you for your reply. I feel better knowing that beta blockers can cause someone to be exhausted. I keep pushing myself to walk 4 days a week. I can't just sit and turn to dust. I must keep doing something and it's very difficult. I may ask my cardiologist to change the metoprolol to Atenolol.

Seems like Cardio Dr.s like to put newly diagnosed affibers on Metoprolol. Then we struggle to see what dose, when to take of if it is the best thing for us.

Mine put me on 50 mg. 2x day. My rate dropped to low 40's right away. So he said, 25mg. 2x day. Rate was in upper 40's....and I was so sleepy.

Then he put me on extended release 50mg. to take at night...rate still too slow, felt awful.....and I was still going into afib. But, I sure did sleep well.

I was certain the Metoprolol was not necessary for me to take all the time. I asked to be taken off. Dr. said, No, I needed a pace maker so I could tolerate the Metoprolol. He said I had Bradycardia....a permanent low heart rate. This seemed crazy to me.

I went for a 2nd opinion. This Dr. told me to take the Metoprolol only when I went into afib. I am symptomatic and know when I go into afib...and my rate goes to 140. This has worked for me for 4 yrs. I also have Rythmol...an antiarrhythmic, that I can take with the Metoprolol...if I want to.

Even when I take 25 mg. at the onset of afib, I am still a bit groggy for the day. Each episode is different in how and when I convert.

I also take Pradaxa~

Very tired on carvedilol (beta blocker ). People in the grocery come up & try to help me I look so fagged out. Been on for 7 yrs for high Bp, recently increased due to afib. Sitting in chair right now trying to get enough energy to finish what I need to do today.

Juniebe, oh boy, I know how you feel. Something is not right when the medications we are taking to keep us from being sick, make us sicker than we were before we were on them. I'm totally OK with the blood thinner. I've been convinced how important it is to prevent a stroke, especially when my heart is in Afib. I'm just questioning the need for the beta blocker when I'm not if Afib? I spend 99% of the time in NSR. It's just not right to feel this tired all the time.
Dr. says, keep exercising.......ya, right, I have to plan ahead for the strength to get up from the chair I'm sitting in most of the time.

Maryann, go ahead and toss the metop. Like my cardio said, it isnt keeping you out of afib and wont convert you back, which was my experience with that med I tossed 3 years ago. All my times of AF I was on some standing dose of meds. I had a slow but irregular HR. I will say however it was the easier of all bbs to tolerate. Altho my heart seemed to catching up all day and at times of exercise it was a challenge. If you stay on it, maybe just do a dose at bedtime and stop during the day, which worked for me.

I was feeling the same way and turns out the afib lead to hypothyroidism which I guess is too common with afib.
Might want to check that out. Im taking thyroxine now and feel alot better....theres some older post on here about afib and hypothyroidism.
Hope you feel better
Vinny

My experience is the same as yours.. on metoprolol...

After my first ablation I was put on the same schedule as you (50mg 2X day). I would take it at night, sleep for 12+ hours. Get up and have breakfast (up for about an hour) and take the next dose, then nap until noon. Get up and eat again, then nap from about 1 to 6. Get up eat again, in bed by ~7.

Repeated this for about two weeks. Decided I could not function on this dosage/meds. So at my checkup, DR scaled back to 25mg 2X a day. It still makes me fatigue (after 4 years), and I'm down to 12.5 mg 1x a day.

Robert

A couple of things.. If you're out of afib 99 percent of the time, why are ou on an anticoagulant? I also am female and have treated high blood pressure.. And get afib every couple of months.. But two EPs said the risk of stroke is low, and it isn't worth the risk of anti coagulants.

Ask about switching to bystolic.

Islandluvr, I'm on a blood thinner for life because of the CHAD scale. I'm over 65, I have a history of hypertension and I'm female. I've gotten 3 opinions from different cardiologists, and their conclusion was the same. I need the blood thinner.

@maryannSD

I, too, was put on metoprolol 50mg per day after being cardioverted after my very first of the 3 afib episodes I had (came on at night while sleeping). 3 months later, the doctor took me off of it, wanting to see if I could go without it. I lasted 2 months and then I fell back into afib - in the middle of the night while sleeping. One 50mg metoprolol tablet (per doctor's instructions terminated it.

I then tried (with the doctor's concurrence) 25mg per day and lasted 2 months with that before falling back into afib (again at night while sleeping soundly).

In the ER with that 3rd episode of afib, they gave me 300mg of Flecainide which terminated the episode in 2 hours. Since then, the doctor has had me on Flecainide 50mg x 2 per day and I have not had any more episodes for over 13 months hence.

Flecainide has exerted very little in side effects - doesn't make me feel tired. It does tend to slow my heart rate and keeps my peak exercise heart rate lower than it would be otherwise. My doctor says Flecainide is the best antiarrhythmic on the market. But he did give me an echo and a nuclear stress/exercise study as they prefer to do with all Flecainide patients as the heart structure has to be sound for it to be safe.

you've just started the drug finder quest. Beta blockers can make afib worse in some of us. Calcium channel blockers, Deltiazem, works good for me. I would stay away from Flecanide for as long as possible and have a heart catheter to make sure you are ok to take iy first. Echo's miss a lot.

I went for 3 different opinions when first diagnosed with Afib. I had one cardiologist at Scripps Cardiology Clinic tell me that she could put me on a type of beta blocker and guarantee that I would NEVER go into Afib again. She said she thought I could tolerate it because my eco was good and I show no signs of heart damage. When I asked about side effects, she told me, "sudden death," (only in people with heart damage). She told me the name of the medicine but because of the possible side effects, I didn't write down the name and told her I was not interested. I am now taking 25mgs of Metoprolol twice daily and Eliquis 5mgs twice daily. If I go into Afib I increase my dose of Metoprolol to 50mgs until I return to NSR. To say Afib is a nuisance is an understatement.

...she could put me on a type of beta blocker and guarantee that I would NEVER go into Afib again. She said she thought I could tolerate it because my eco was good and I show no signs of heart damage. When I asked about side effects, she told me, "sudden death," (only in people with heart damage). ..

Beta blockers don't cause sudden death, in fact they prevent it... from National Institutes of Health:

"Beta blockers have been shown to reduce the risk of sudden cardiac death in more than 50 randomized trials involving more than 55,000 patients. Relative reductions (vs. placebo) in cardiac death in some of these trials ranged from 30 to 50%. These reductions are substantially greater than trials of other drug classes including angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors. However, not all beta blockers confer equal benefit to patients at risk of sudden cardiac death."

From a recent PubMed/NIH URL:

"CONCLUSION:

"Beta-blockers reduce the risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) by 31%, cardiovascular death (CVD) by 29% and all-cause mortality by 33%. These results confirm the mortality benefits of these drugs and they should be recommended to all patients similar to those included in the trials."

I think you are talking about Multaq:

"As we know, now, since being approved by the FDA in 2009 and soon becoming an often-prescribed atrial fibrillation drug, Multaq has been associated with increased risks of serious side effects, including liver failure, interstitial lung disease (ILD), stroke, and sudden cardiac death."

"In the February 2014 edition of JAMA Internal Medicine one finds this rather hard-hitting article, "Dronedarone for Atrial Fibrillation: The Limited Reliability of Clinical Practice Guidelines".

http://www.drug-injury.com/druginjurycom/2014/03/multaq-increased-risks-lung-damage-liver-failure-heart-attack-cardiac-death-stroke-side-effects.html

petey